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Wednesday, March 22, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Marc Normandin's Angels Position Players Preview
Reminding me it's getting to be time for my own review, Marc Normandin reviews the Angels using not only PECOTA's projected VORP, but Positional Net Runs Above Average, a metric similar to Win Shares in that it tries to score the whole player. Marc does a good job adding a human thumb to most of the player combinations (I especially like his temper-your-enthusiasm job on Howie Kendrick, whose previous work in the minors led to expectations that weren't met in spring training).Beane Wanted The Angels To Get Manny
Take heart, Rev -- Billy Beane wanted the Angels to sign Manny Ramirez, too, especially considering the prospects the Angels would have to give up:"I wouldn't have been thrilled to have one of those guys over there," Beane said, "but if they had given up some of the guys who were being talked about in deals, I would have been OK with that."By avoiding such obviously ridiculous trades does Bill Stoneman make it possible to overpay for the likes of Barry Zito, who suggested earlier in the month in a Times interview that he might be interested in signing with the Angels....
"Put it this way," Beane said, "I was disappointed they didn't go out and sign a bunch of older guys who would stand in the way of those [prospects] because those guys are legitimate. They have one of the best farm systems in the game. They're not just good players; they're going to be great players."
Roster Notes
- Acknowledging the obvious, the Times reports that Dallas McPherson may start the season in the minors. D-Mac says he thinks he doesn't "have anything else to prove at triple A", and "I have my thoughts, but I don't want to go on the record with them", which is probably good news for his career; ballplayers who go public find themselves in hot water sooner rather than later.
Update: Truer words were never spoken:
This man can help a major-league team, even if he never learns to hit lefties. Hopefully, that team will be us.
- There is now "no schedule" for Garret Anderson's return to the lineup according to the man himself, but the Angels think he can start hitting in games starting tomorrow.
- X-rays on Jeff Mathis's hand were negative.
- The Dodgers will go with an 11-man pitching staff. The principle question is whether Grady Little wants a pinch hitter, in which case the candidates are Hee Seop Choi, Joel Guzman, or Willy Aybar, or a utility infielder, in which case the candidates are Oscar Robles and Ramon Martinez.
- Jason Repko has made the team.
- "Pitcher Chad Billingsley, outfielder Matt Kemp and reliever Joe Beimel were reassigned to minor league camp and first baseman James Loney and outfielder Delwyn Young were optioned to triple-A Las Vegas."
- Grady Little thinks Eric Gagné is ready for the regular season, and has planned on him being able to save games starting with the season opener. Little won't use Gagné for more than four outs at a time.
- Barry Bonds and the Giants will play the Angels in an unusual Cactus League night game.
- Rangers starter Adam Eaton, whose forearm was hit by a line drive earlier in spring training, is questionable for his next start.
- Frank Thomas hit a pair of doubles in minor league action, indicating his feet are working properly (unless, as Rotoworld pointed out, they were of the ground rule variety).
- Tim Salmon thinks he's still "rough" in some parts of his game, refusing to speculate on whether he's earned a place on the Angels. Mike Scioscia says, "We just don't know what direction we'll be going here in about 10 days, but it is nice to see the options we have starting to appear."
Angels 9, Rangers 0
A great game by Jeff Weaver, who finally started throwing breaking pitches, collecting five scoreless frames with five strikeouts -- despite a blasting wind toward the outfield. That same wind helped the Angels -- including Chone Figgins, and Tim Salmon's first of the spring -- hit four homers in the same game. Weaver packs it away:"You always want to see the hitter's approaches and all that during the spring. You might throw pitches in the spring just to see what the hitters might do against you. All that stuff I remember, put in the back of your head and use during the course of the season."Weaver's had trouble with this division in the past, so it should be interesting to see how he does in the regular season.
Marlins 8, Dodgers 6
Aaron Sele just prevented himself from becoming this year's Scott Erickson, and thank God, giving up six earned runs in two innings of work. Meantime, former Dirtbag Jason Vargas held down the Dodger attack for five innings, only giving up two earned runs.
Comments:
especially like his temper-your-enthusiasm job on Howie Kendrick, whose previous work in the minors led to expectations that weren't met in spring training
Hm. Based on what exactly? If not for a tail-off in his last 3-4 games, he was hitting like a wildcat, and every member of the organization up and down testified to as much. He was exactly as expected.
The fetish for overarching judgements based on *really* small sample sizes on this site is its telltale heart. Let's defibrillate with the rearview and the longview occasionally, okay?
Hm. Based on what exactly? If not for a tail-off in his last 3-4 games, he was hitting like a wildcat, and every member of the organization up and down testified to as much. He was exactly as expected.
The fetish for overarching judgements based on *really* small sample sizes on this site is its telltale heart. Let's defibrillate with the rearview and the longview occasionally, okay?
# posted by 
: 3/22/2006 10:04:00 AM
: 3/22/2006 10:04:00 AM
So, if Beane thinks the Angels did a good job by not getting Manny, does that mean that Rob Neyer will say SOMETHING positive about the Angels? Or will he just copy Beane and say that the Angels should have picked up Manny so that the A's can dominate the division for the next decade?
I think Neyer would like for that to happen so his predictions can be true, yeah. :-) Who doesn't like to be right?
The fetish for overarching judgements based on *really* small sample sizes on this site is its telltale heart. Let's defibrillate with the rearview and the longview occasionally, okay?
WTF? It also so happens he was seeing increasingly difficult competition his last few days. Damn, nobody's saying he's a bust, just that it wouldn't hurt to have him spend some time in the minors. Sheesh.
WTF? It also so happens he was seeing increasingly difficult competition his last few days. Damn, nobody's saying he's a bust, just that it wouldn't hurt to have him spend some time in the minors. Sheesh.
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